The P2P nature of Bitcoin is changing the way users operate on the Internet and it is allowing the creation of more scalable businesses. However, few people can benefit today from P2P services to buy or sell bitcoins globally, in real time and with an automatic experience without resorting to forums as LocalBitcoins.

In many cases, the lack of P2P models limits users to perform operations on traditional exchanges, accepting costly validation processes due to AML legislations in each country. But even more unfortunate is that these services are available only in a few countries in the world, and excludes many of the markets with the greatest potential. This is because it is expensive for a traditional exchange to move into new markets, and because in many markets such as China, it is simply impossible. In most places in the world Bitcoin exchanges doesn´t exist beyond rudimentary forums that connect users through web pages. We intend to change this scenario, creating a global exchange with a model which, taking advantage of the P2P model, allows us to take our product to the whole world in an easy way.

The experience from an early user

For now, only a privileged few are those who have had the opportunity to test the Coinffeine Beta version with real money that Coinffeine plans to launch in the coming days. One of these users is Jorge Ordovás, Director of Innovation in Payment Systems in the business school in the Foro de Economía Digital and possibly one of the most experienced people in Spain in new means of payment such as Bitcoin. Jorge is one of the early users of the Coinffeine Beta version, and we wanted to talk to him about his experience with the application in the early trading with real money.

“To use Coinffeine has been a groundbreaking experience and a qualitative leap that allowed me, for the first time, to buy and sell bitcoins in real time without forcing me to take a “leap of faith” entrusting third parties to control my virtual coins”, says Jorge, and continues that “for several years I have been a customer of multiple exchanges, which allowed me to have a very broad view of the complexity, limitations and risks involved in buying and selling virtual currencies (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Nextcoin, Dogecoin …), due to the paradox of having to rely on third parties in an ecosystem that is essentially based on decentralization. And I’ve been in situations like the bankruptcy of MtGox, or thefts in Bter and Bitstamp, among others”.

Jorge has followed the evolution of Coinffeine closely and is one of the users who have tried all the versions of the application this far. At first he could experiment with the different versions of the Trial and the Technical Preview which, for security reasons, only allowed operations with no real money. Jorge has been testing our application with real money for several days, making operations and recording in the blockchain the first P2P exchange operations.

“The evolution of Coinffeine has been spectacular in many ways. The performance has improved considerably, as well as ease for installation and configuration, and many aspects of overall performance has been further refined”, Jorge explains about the work behind the user interface, “but where it really has been a before and after is in the complete redesign of the user interface, changing from an environment very oriented to the technical level of the solution to a much more attractive, intuitive and simple application aimed at the end user, which also includes custom functions for users of exchanges (as orders at market price)“, he adds.

The technical aspects that enable real bitcoins exchanges involves a change in the user experience of the application and Jorge says he has noticed “a difference in higher processing times, which is actually a feature of the real Bitcoin network against the testnet, which also affects the use of traditional exchanges”, he explains before concluding that, from his point of view “the experience is still much more satisfactory in general terms than these alternatives. The feeling of simplicity and the control over your bitcoins are stronger than these details”.

As you know the Coinffeine’s Technical Preview has been ready for download from our website a few days now. As we explained on the download page, the opinion of the community is very important to us. All feedback and suggestions made by early Coinffeine users are analysed in detail by our developers, and where appropriate introduced in our roadmap of changes to be implemented.

The truth is that the answers received from the community so far, have exceeded our expectations. In just two days the application was downloaded more than 600 times, operations of purchase / sale have been recorded more than 2,000 times and we had more than 1,300 visits to our website. Specialized media such as Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoCoinsNews and Digital Money Times picked up the story, and in Spanish it was reports in OroyFinanzas.com, Sobre Bitcoin y Cripto Noticias. And even in Russia the launch of our Technical Preview had great impact after being published in Bit Новости. There is no doubt that the interest in our application motivates us to work tirelessly to develop Coinffeine so it becomes the distributed Bitcoin exchange the community expects and needs.

During these days of incessant activity in Coinffeine, where our development team has worked tirelessly to improve and implement difficult technical aspects, it has been a great help and a great honor to have the feedback from Mike Hearn.

It is a valuable reward to read this about our application, when the person behind these opinions is one of the most recognized developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem. But it is also a great responsibility, because it makes us even more aware of the enormous expectations placed on Coinffeine. Expectations that we do not only aim to satisfy, but to overcome.

We would like to thank the public reception of Coinffeine’s first days out there. And we would like you to know that our great little team works tirelessly to ensure that the first distributed Bitcoin exchange offers a unique and incomparable P2P exchange. And for that, your participation is crucial.

Have you already downloaded our app? Do you have any feedback or suggestions? What impressions do you have? Just tell us. Send an email to support@coinffeine.com. All your comments will make from Coinffeine a better platform for all.

Regulatory experts from the European Commission, representatives of European banks and Bitcoin startups coincided last week in Brussels at the Blockchain and Digital Currencies Workshop. Alberto, our CEO, was a speaker at the event to present the prototypes of financial products based on the blockchain technology, currently being developed by Coinffeine for some Spanish banks, and he used the occasion to show how the latest version of the application works. It was made available from our downloads page just a few days later.

The event began with an introduction to the technical aspects of Bitcoin, and an analysis of its legal nature and its regulation. The attendees were interested in knowing more about the initiatives created by companies in the ecosystem such as Coinffeine, Circle or Ethereum and how they are generating business. A special interest was shown for the initiatives from Bitcoin companies that are working with banks, as is the case of Coinffeine. This is understandable, because among the participants were representatives from many major European banks, as for example the director of BBVA’s European Affairs Office in Brussels.

During the subsequent networking Alberto provoked reaction of the audience by presenting an assumed scenario that symbolically represented the paradigm shift that the blockchain technology represents. He asked the audience to think of the possible publication of the name of their children and the school they attend on the internet. He further explained how this message can not be deleted if it was written in the blockchain. The attendees were alarmed by this fact, and reasoned that to use the well-known right to be forgotten and ask Google to remove information from the internet, is not possible with the blockchain.

The conclusion we draw from our intervention is that members of the commission understood the importance of knowing more about a technology like Bitcoin. They support the need to develop an approach to new entrepreneurial initiatives and businesses emerging in the ecosystem. It was especially relevant to see the importance given by attendees to the synergies between banks and Bitcoin companies currently happening in Spain. Spain is home to some of the largest banks in world, so it is not a coincidence that two spanish banks are partners with Bitcoin companies: Bankinter with Coinffeine and BBVA with Coinbase.

The title of the panel was precisely the point of Alberto’s intervention: “Why banks should (not) be afraid of cryptocurrencies”. And we believe that the presentation and the example of Coinffeine helped to emphasize just that.

If you are interested in testing the first P2P Bitcoin automatic exchange, you only need to download our application and, once installed, start buying and selling bitcoins with other Coinffeine users.

This version is intended to enable independent users and banks to try the application at an early stage, integrate it into their services and operate as Bitcoin exchanges. Although the Coinffeine Technical Preview is fully functional, we decided to go step by step in this early stage, and distributed a version that is configured to be used on a Testnet or test blockchain. In this way, the users can try it without spending money and eliminate any risks.

To test the platform, you only have to download the application from our website. Just as you do not need to register to use BitTorrent, you do not need to register or provide any identification to use Coinffeine. You just install it and use it.

This new version introduces our new user interface, it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and for the first time in a P2P exchange, users can experience an automatic, secure and without arbitrators exchange similar to that offered by traditional exchanges, as in Bitstamp or Coinbase, but with all the advantages of the P2P.

Coinffeine’s intention is to combine the concept of a wallet and exchange in the same product. It is a concept we believe have a great potential, and therefore we leave the following steps to the imagination.

Coinffeine is a desktop application that works as a wallet, which allows to store bitcoins safely, and to connect an OKPay account -a payments processor similar to PayPal- to buy and sell bitcoins with other users.

In addition, with Coinffeine you do not have send your bitcoins to a platform to operate, as in Bitstamp, but they remain at all times in your wallet and only you have control over them.

The Spanish Bitcoin startup Coinffeine launches the Technical Preview version of its P2P Bitcoin exchange. For the first time in a P2P exchange, users can experience an automatic and secure exchangesimilar to that offered by traditional exchanges, but with all the advantages of the P2P.

This version is intended to enable independent users and banks to try the application at an early stage, integrate it into their services and operate as Bitcoin exchanges. Everyone interested can download our application, and once installed you can begin to buy and sell bitcoins with other Coinffeine users.

Although the Coinffeine Technical Preview is fully functional, we decided to go step by step in this early stage, and distribute a version that is configured to be used on a Testnet or test blockchain. In this way, the users can try it without spending money and eliminate any risks.

“From today the Bitcoin community can try Coinffeine, the first P2P Bitcoin exchange without arbitrators. This is the same version that we are offering to our bank partners and customers. Users will have to wait a little longer to use it with real bitcoins, but we are sure the wait will be worthwhile. We hope to transform Coinffeine’s relationships with banks and payment processors into services that give them added value“, said Alberto Gómez Toribio, CEO of Coinffeine.

To test the platform, users just have to download it from our website. Just as you do not need to register to use BitTorrent, you do not need to register or provide any identification to use the application. You just install it and use it. Coinffeine is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

This new version also introduces our new user interface, which is very different from what you saw in the last public appearance. “Few Bitcoin products invest sufficient resources in design and usability. Our team continues to grow, and we have recently added an expert in this field to our team. He has been in charge of the transformation of Coinffeine’s user experience, and the result is something completely new”, said Gómez.

Coinffeine’s intention is to combine the concept of a wallet and exchange in the same product. It is a concept we believe have a great potential, and therefore we leave the following steps to the imagination.

“Coinffeine is a desktop wallet like Armory or Electrum with which you control your money safely. This allows the company to avoid disclosing MSB, because we do not touch the money or the bitcoins from our users. We have learned much from the P2P industry and we want to apply many of these concepts to the FinTech ecosystem”, said Gómez.

This release concludes the period of private testing that started last December 18th, where Coinffeine presented the first Alpha version of the platform in a public event in Madrid and a limited number of users joined the private user experience program.

Prior to the release of the version 1.0 of the product, we will evaluate the creation of a similar private testing program. This time we will invite a number of new users to try the platform, but with real bitcoins and money.

Coinffeine, a desktop application

Coinffeine is a desktop application that has been defined by those who have tried it as the ‘BitTorrent for Bitcoin’.

The application works as a wallet, which allows to store bitcoins safely, and to connect an OKPay account -a payments processor similar to PayPal- to buy and sell bitcoins with other users.

The main difference with other P2P Bitcoin exchanges, such as LocalBitcoins or BitSquare, is that these exchanges function like eBay, ie with the need to establish contact with another person, agree on the price and pay trusting that you will receive the bitcoins. In Coinffeine the process is automatic, safe and without arbitrators: the experience is the same as using an exchange as Bitstamp or Coinbase.

“In LocalBitcoins or BitSquare you can’t do trading efficiently because you can’t keep orders in the market that run automatically. In these markets, when a user opens an order that corresponds to yours, you must intervene. Some platforms incorporate persons acting as an arbitrator in a dispute, which makes the process a little safer, but much slower and expensive”, said Gómez.

In addition, with Coinffeine you do not have send your bitcoins to a platform to operate, as in Bitstamp, but they remain at all times in your wallet and only you have control over them.

Coinffeine’s design is similar to BitTorrent: it works between users. This means that the user does not have to register or provide personal information to use the application, you simply download it and use it.

Madrid, our home city, will host the Digital Currency Summit (DCS) tomorrow, an event that the organizers describe as “the gathering point for banks, governments and investors to debate about Cryptocurrencies”. Coinffeine does not want to miss it!

DCS is a unique event organized by banks and for banks, which it is not a precedent but a symptom. Spain is home to some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions that have greater interest in developing new products with Bitcoin. The B2B in Spain is possible, and the DCS conference is one of the best places to meet the protagonists of this ecosystem.

The event will be attended by banks and companies from Spain like BBVA, Banco Santander and Banco Sabadell and international names such as UBS, Lloyds Banking Group, Fidor Bank, Accenture, Rabobank, Osborne & Clarke and Rakuten, to mention a few. In addition the event will also be attended by leading Bitcoin companies such as Blockchain, Circle, KncMiner and MeXBT.

A lot of news to share

The one-day event will analyse the Bitcoin´s legislative and legal framework, its overall impact and its integration in the banking system, a framework in which Coinffeine has a lot to say. We are one of the few Bitcoin startups with a product that fits the banks’ business models and that has managed to gain their trust and confidence. After closing our private Trial program and finalizing the details of the next launch of our Technical Preview version, we have a lot of news to share.

Coinffeine will attend as audience to listen and share experiences with speakers and attendees about our work with Spanish banks; what products and services are being created around our protocol, our experienes meeting with regulators in New York and the progress with the Spanish politicians after attending the debates in the Spanish Congress on the process of Bitcoin regulation in Spain.

Coinffeine wants to congratulate Alex Puig, executive director of the event, which has successfully transformed charisma and talent into a unique event of its kind.

In addition, Puig is also the organizer of Blockchain and Digital Currencies Workshop at the European Commission, where Coinffeine has been invited as a speaker. So our CEO Alberto will be in Brussels on Monday April 27th to participate in this important event. He will, along with Fidor Bank, discuss emerging partnerships being developed between the Bitcoin ecosystem and banking in a panel entitled ” Why Banks Should (not) be afraid by cryptocurrencies – experience from an early adopter bank”.